Trainer Henry Dwyer is banking on residual fitness being pivotal when Cote Atlantique resumes down the Flemington straight.
The Irish-bred import who raced in Victoria last spring before venturing to New Zealand in the autumn and then Brisbane for a winter campaign, returns in the Group 3 Aurie’s Star Handicap (1200m) on Saturday.
Dwyer watched the gelding work at Ballarat on Tuesday before boarding a plane to the UK where he has Asfoora running in the Group 2 King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood on Friday night (Melbourne time).
Cote Atlantique had some good form to his credit last spring, chasing home future Group 1 winner Sepals at Caulfield then finishing fourth to Evaporate and Transatlantic at Sandown who would later go on to run one-two in the Toorak Handicap.
He would then go on to defeat the highly credentialled Saint George in the Seymour Cup.
Dwyer said Cote Atlantique had a luckless campaign in Brisbane and with a bit of luck could have won a couple of races, but importantly the gelding spent time in the warmer climate of Queensland rather than the arctic conditions of a Ballarat winter.
“He’s fully acclimatised now and he’s had the winter up in Brisbane just to get him out of the cold at Ballarat,” Dwyer said.
“He was a bit unlucky in a couple of runs up there and he probably should have a couple with even luck.
“He’s a good, genuine, honest sort of horse. I think about Listed, Group 3 class.
“He had those runs up there, he’s had a really light four weeks between runs. He had a gallop on Tuesday, which was pretty much his only gallop in four weeks, but he has good residual fitness.
“We thought we’d give him a run down the straight and then there’s a nice 1400-metre Listed race (the Leon Macdonald Stakes) in Adelaide three weeks later.
“It’s a weight-for-age race, he’s rated 100, so it’s a bit hard to place him, but he seems in good order.”
While Cote Atlantique chased home Group 1 quality horses last spring, Dwyer said the team would pick around the edges this spring.
He said while he is a winner at 1600m, Cote Atlantique would be kept to shorter races.
“It’s a long spring ahead and there’s plenty of options for him,” Dwyer said.
“We’ll find the weakest races we can. He’s been very consistent without winning a lot of races in his time here.
“I think he’s best at 1400 metres with the blinkers on, so I don’t know if we’ll stretch him out to the mile again.
“He just gets the mile, but he wants soft tracks too.”
Meanwhile Dwyer has watched Asfoora go through her paces at Newmarket after arriving in the UK on Wednesday.
It was the first time he had seen the mare since finishing last in a Group 3 sprint at Sandown on July 4.
“She seems good,” Dwyer said.
“She had 10 days in the paddock after Sandown and is 10 days back in work.
“She looks terrific. She’s sound, there’s nothing wrong with her.
“She can run on Friday and hopefully run well and then most likely go to stud.”
